PS PBS Space Time

Podcast

PBS Space Time

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd. For all business inquiries and sponsorship opportunities please reach out to: pbsspacetime@lighthouseagents.com Matt O'Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to do it. Matt completed his Ph.D. at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute, followed by work at th...

Last published 3 November 2026 329 posts collected by Sputnik

Said on PBS Space Time

“In the case of ancestor simulations, upon deciding that we are simulated, we acknowledge that there is no experiment that we can do to prove that we are not. The hypothesis is unfalsifiable. Bostrom himself points out that upon being found out by one of its resident minds, the simulation can be instantly edited or rewound.” — Matt O'Dowd, PBS Space Time
Matt O'Dowd · 1 Nov 2026 Listen →
“Memory isn't about playing back a perfect recording of the past. It's highly reconstructive, piecing together a higher-fidelity picture based on fragments and guesswork. And this is done subconsciously. It's not surprising that multiple people perform similar faulty reconstructions. After all, they have access to similar fragments and may share psychological tendencies.” — Matt O'Dowd, PBS Space Time
Matt O'Dowd · 1 Nov 2026 Listen →
“Every year the moon steals a little bit of Earth's rotational kinetic energy and drifts about 3.8 centimeters away from us. And so in the future, it won't be able to block out the entire sun anymore. In fact, in only half a billion years, the Earth will have its final total solar eclipse.” — Matt O'Dowd, PBS Space Time
Matt O'Dowd · 1 Nov 2026 Listen →
“So will Martians be dark or pale? It depends which of these effects we better handle with technology. Perhaps we'll have lily white Martians in underground cities and much darker Martians on the surface.” — Matt O'Dowd, PBS Space Time
Matt O'Dowd · 31 Oct 2026 Listen →
“People love cyclic and regenerating universes. They appeal to our sense of narrative, which might be a reason to be wary of these hypotheses.” — Matt O'Dowd, PBS Space Time
Matt O'Dowd · 23 Aug 2026 Listen →

Hosts

PBS Space Time is hosted by Matt O'Dowd , Matthew O'Dowd and Andrew Kornhaber .

Recent Episodes

  1. 3 Nov 2026

    The Oh My God Particle

  2. 2 Nov 2026

    Are You a Boltzmann Brain?

  3. 1 Nov 2026

    Are We Living in an Ancestor Simulation? ft. Neil deGrasse Tyson | Space Time

    With Neil deGrasse Tyson and Leo Zua

  4. 1 Nov 2026

    The Great American Eclipse

  5. 31 Oct 2026

    Martian Evolution

  6. 30 Oct 2026

    The Fate of the First Stars

  7. 29 Oct 2026

    Supervoids vs Colliding Universes!

  8. 29 Oct 2026

    Anti-Matter and Quantum Relativity

  9. 28 Oct 2026

    The First Quantum Field Theory

  10. 27 Oct 2026

    Feynman's Infinite Quantum Paths

  11. 27 Oct 2026

    Solving the Impossible in Quantum Field Theory

  12. 26 Oct 2026

    The Real Star Wars

Guests

Brian Keating (2 episodes), Bill Simmons (2 episodes), Joe Hansen , Diana Cowern , Stephon Alexander , Eric Weinstein , Mithuna Yoganathan , Abel Méndez , Gabe Perez-Giz , Dianna Cowern , Moya McTeer , Sabine Hossenfelder , and 8 more.